DirecTV could use Hulu to build an online multi-channel distributor or a TV-everywhere app, which would create yet another platform that Hulu's owners would need to get their programming onto, Greenfield wrote in a note to clients.

That, he noted, would give DirecTV just one more "bargaining chip" to lower the prices it pays for programming from those companies, said Greenfield.

"It makes no sense to strengthen your distributors," he wrote.

Greenfield said it would be better if either News Corp. or Disney just acquired all of Hulu. Comcast is prohibited from owning any more of Hulu per conditions it agreed to in return for government approval of its purchase of a controlling stake in NBCUniversal.

Since Disney and News Corp. are unlikely to sell to each other and buy out Comcast, Greenfield thinks a better strategic buyer would be private equity firms or an Internet company such as Yahoo and not an established TV distribution service.

A collection of cute furry creatures will smother the undead this weekend, as "Monsters University" is expected to top zombie tale "World War Z" and several holdovers at the box office, including "Man of Steel."

The University of Illinois' rescinded job offer to a professor and a controversy over a faculty blog at Chicago State University helped land the two schools on a 2014 "worst of" list for student and faculty free speech rights.